An SMS is all it took to confirm the news. "It's true. I'm at GMC. About an hour ago", is all it read. And I knew it was not a rumour, but the harsh reality of life blatantly mocking all of us. The news was sudden and unexpected, to say the least, and the loss is something that is extremely hard to comprehend, because what we've lost is so much more than we can account for....

I had no business knowing him as well as I did. Infact, I might as well have gone through life barely knowing of his existence, and vice versa. But I'm grateful that it happened, and I cannot imagine what life would be like without him. It's ironic that despite being in the Computer Science Department, it was him, an outsider, who attempted to quench my thirst for learning. I learnt more about Assembly Language (and their manipulations) working with him than I did in an entire semester of classes on the same subject. I remember someone telling me that in every batch, he had one Comp "go-to" student for any programming related tasks, and when he first approached me, I was more than happy to help.

My reasons were extremely selfish... I would have the honour of having worked with him, plus an excuse to explain my pathetic attendance, plus get to work on something I absolutely love, plus have bragging rights over my friends, plus get to know a man, who was unarguably one of the pillars of the insitution. All he got in return was a half-baked, barely above-average Computer Engineer. But there was not a single time when he made me feel any less than one of the best engineers out there.

What started off as a work program soon diversified into much more. What started off as random meetings didn't take long to transform into weekly (and at one time, daily) phone calls. It was only a matter of time for these phone calls to reach a meme-like status among my friends and family. And I personally gained a lot in return. Whenever I needed help with administrative procedures or some college-related clarification, he was the first person I approached. Not too many people know the amount of help he provided to me (and CURSOR) with matters pertaining to college festivals (especially Technix), despite not being required to be involved in the matter, even in the slightest. I distinctly remember the entire room applauding/cheering when he made a guest appearance at Tandav 101, which remains, till this date, one of the fondest memories of my college life...

What was probably his most astounding ability was being able to take on
multiple responsibilites with ease. He was a teacher, a mentor, a guide,
an administrator, a friend, all rolled up into one. He was a reluctant idealist with a vision that he defiantly stood by. We disagreed on quite a few issues, but I respect that he, unlike most others, was open to disagreement. And that led to lots of interesting conversations, quite a few of which ended up with me changing my viewpoints completely. In a world where loyalties are made and broken in fractions of seconds, he was a down-to-earth man who'd pledged himself to a great institution, and hearing him speak about it, made be feel proud to be associated with it as well.

He was one of the few people who had an impact on me during my stay at college, and helped shape my ideologies about life. I hope some day, I will be live up to his expectations, and make him proud...